Skip to main content

tv   CNN Presents  CNN  July 1, 2011 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT

7:00 pm
wreckage of your silent reverie ♪ ♪ you're in the arms of the angel may you find some comfort here ♪ in italy, a british exchange student raped and murdered in her room. >> it was horrible. the young lady bled to death. >> amanda knox, her american roommate, is charged with the crime. >> my husband called me and said "they've arrested amanda".
7:01 pm
>> a media frenzy. rife with tales of cover ups and sex games turned deadly, all centered around the beautiful young student dubbed foxy knoxy by the tabloids. now amanda knox sits in this italian prison, convicted of murder abroad. amanda knox has been behind bars for the past 3 1/2 years. but just this week the american student won a significant victory. fresh dna analysis presented to the appeals court could boost efforts to overturn her conviction. the prosecution maintains she's where she belongs, in prison. now the story behind the headlines. amanda knox was going into her junior year of college. her mother etta recalls a.m. man darks the fresh-faced 20-year-old, intent on
7:02 pm
adventure. >> she was going to study abroad. going into college somewhere. she didn't know where yet. >> amanda would decide on perusia, italy. her sister deanna remembers when she moved into this house which she shared with three other girls, two italians and one british student named meredith kercher. >> why was she so set on that apartment? >> i think it's because of the people, really. it was close to the college, and her roommates are the sweetest people in the world. >> but after only six weeks in italy, on the night of november 1, 2007, amanda's overseas adventure would take a bizarre turn. amanda claims she slept over with her boyfriend, rafael solocito that night. according to her they cooked dinner at his house, smoked has sheesh and made love. on that sanight meredith kerche
7:03 pm
arrived home. sometime after midnight a witness living across the street claimed to hear a scream and multiple footsteps running away from the house in opposite directions. the next day knox says she returned home to shower and change clothes. then she noticed something was wrong. one roommate's room was turned upside down, a rock on the floor and a broken window. meredith kercher's door was locked and she wasn't answering her cell phone. >> i got the phone calls about when she came to her house. amanda kept saying i've gotten ahold of ebb. i can't get ahold of meredith. she's not answering her phone. her door is locked. there was lots of concern. and i said, okay, call the police. and then she did. and the police came. and then they had actually one of the other roommates' boyfriends broke down the door because the police wouldn't do
7:04 pm
it. >> behind meredith's bedroom door was her body, covered by a blanket, blood everywhere. meredith had been sexually assaulted, stabbed and slashed in the neck. a bloody hand print left on the wall. bloody footprints on the floor. as police began to process the crime scene, suspicion soon began to fall upon amanda. partly due to what police believed was a faked force entry through the window. observers also thought amanda's behavior was odd. she and rafael stayed in the living room while the others broke into meredith's room. franchesco moresca is an attorney hired by the victim's family. he says amanda's behavior was enough to make her a suspect. "the famous behavior of amanda knox cannot be justifiable if we
7:05 pm
compare it to the way normal people behave". >> in this video, amanda and her boyfriend rafael comfort each other outside the house. but at the police station, witnesses say, they laughed and made faces, heightening suspicions about them. to amanda knox and rafael the police station would become all too familiar over the coming days. her father recalls the week after the grisly discovery. >> between the time they actually found meredith and when amanda was arrested there was roughly a 90-hour time frame. and i'm ballparking the numbers there. during that time, amanda was in the police station for questioning for i believe it was 52 hours. >> as the days passed, the interrogations became longer and more intense. without a lawyer, amanda continued to talk to the police, a decision her mother etta
7:06 pm
mellas regrets to this day. >> would have, could have, should have. i should have insisted she leave the country. i should have insisted that she not talk to anybody. i should have gotten her a lawyer immediately. >> meanwhile, media interests surrounding the crime began to surge. information was leaked to the press almost daily. reports stating "the victim knew her killer" or even" a woman committed the crime" went viral. soon articles were reporting meredith was the victim of a sex game gone wrong. >> in italy, you could make up a story or you could say you heard it from some guy laying in the ditch. you could write the story and all of a sudden it goes viral. >> as the media circus grew, so did the pressure on police to solve the case. on the night of november 5th, the police interrogated amanda
7:07 pm
all night and into the next morning. it was during this session amanda confessed she was at the house that night. her boss, patrick lamumba was there as well. at that point, amanda knox officially ceased to be a witness. she became the suspect. the police held a press conference late that are day announcing to the world they had solved the crime. case closed. according to police, meredith kercher had been killed because she would not take part in a sex game. a sex game orchestrated by amanda knox, her boyfriend, rafael, and patrick lamumba. >> i've always said this was a crime that was born of succession. it was step-by-step. there was no planning. >> all three were arrested and charged with murder. but the tabloid press turned their attention to one of the accused in particular, amanda. when the papers hit newsstands
7:08 pm
the next day, foxy knoxy would be all over the front page. in the weeks and months that followed their arrests, new evidence would emerge. a knife found in rafael's apartment, both amanda's and meredith's dna on it. meredith's bra class up tested positive for rafael's dna. a homeless man came forward, claiming to have seen the couple near the house on the night of the murder. >> we kept thinking, oh, this is a big mistake. it will get cleared up. then it just got really weird with the trial. and it just kept going and going and going. >> the world was captivated. two attractive young women, one accused of killing the other. so what really did happen to meredith kercher? and is amanda knox guilty of murder? for the next hour, forget everything you know. cide betweey and soft tacos?
7:09 pm
why don't we have both? [ male announcer ] old el paso. hard and soft tacos. ♪ feed your fiesta. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. toi switched to a complete0, multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay.
7:10 pm
[ tires squeal ] an accident doesn't have to slow you down. introducing better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model year newer, with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?
7:11 pm
7:12 pm
with an investigation nearly finished and three people under arrest, the press began to focus on who is amanda knox. the picture they painted wasn't very flattering. >> i think some of the biggest problems that have happened with my sister have come from the media. the whole angel face with cold eyes, the whole foxy knoxy thin thing. >> to know the real foxy knoxy you have to go back to amanda's hometown, seattle, washington. >> amanda was born here in seattle in the summer of 1987, the day before i turned 25. so our birthdays are one day apart. >> born into a middle-class family, her mother a schoolteacher, her father an accountant, divorced when amanda and her sister were still very
7:13 pm
young. >> and so growing up it was i spent majority of my time with my mom. it was every other weekend that me and amanda went to our dad's. >> always active, amanda earned her nickname, foxy knoxy, at a young age. and not from where you might have thought. >> and soccer is where she earned that nickname that's come back to haunt her? >> oh, yeah. >> foxy knoxy. >> at the age of eight. the 8-year-olds who don't know anything but call each other all kinds of funny nicknames gave her foxy knoxy. >> she was not a typical teenager. amanda was driven and focused. unlike most eighth graders, she wanted an academic challenge. so for high school she chose seattle prep, a prestigious private school that her parents could not afford. >> amanda was scholarshiped out to seattle prep. so it's not like she was given a silver spoon or anything by any means. >> chris johnson, an english
7:14 pm
teacher at seattle prep, recalls a girl who was different from her classmates. >> she was so diligent that she signed up for an extra english class at a time when she could have had a free period. she took an extra class. so she stood out. >> and as for boys -- >> did she have many serious boyfriends before? >> no. she was definitely a very late bloomer. i don't even remember a boyfriend until college. >> she knew very early on that she wanted to see the world. >> i think amanda started talking even in middle school about wanting to travel and to see different places. >> amanda would take her love for adventure to the university of washington where she would major in linguistics. her friend ann drew describes a woman open to the world. >> i think it was just her open personality to see the good things in people and have always a positive attitude about everybody and everything in the
7:15 pm
world. >> in college amanda knew she wanted to spend a year abroad. but to do that she would have to raise money that her parents did not have. >> how did she do it? >> she had to save $10,000. she lived extremely frugally. and i mean, spent no money on anything. and then worked several jobs at a time. numerous jobs at a time. saved every penny. >> amanda chose to study in perusia, italy. a small town in the center of the country. in the late summer of 2007, amanda and her sister deanna traveled there to get her settled. on the very first day in town, deanna found amanda a place to live. >> we were walking around. the first thing amanda did of course was go down to her university. so we walked down there. and she went inside. and i sat outside. and this girl came up and was posting something on the fence right next to where i was sitting. and i looked over.
7:16 pm
and it said all i could read because i don't speak italian was apartmento. >> that was the apartment. >> that was it. >> once settled in perusia she seemed to be living her dream. >> the first picture she sent to me was the house she had found. i was going, you have that kind of a view out of your backyard? and i was very happy for her. >> and just eight days before meredith's murder, amanda met a boy, an italian student named raffaele sollecito. >> was she falling in love? did she sound like a girl falling in love? >> she sounded like a girl very infatuated with this young man who was showing her around. there was definitely a big infatuation there. i don't think they had time to fall in love by the time they were arrested. >> amanda knox, devoted
7:17 pm
daughter, student, lover? according to this man, murderer. >> is amanda knox evil? ♪ [ male announcer ] an everyday moment can turn romantic anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. ♪ cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day
7:18 pm
so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications, and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache, or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com.
7:19 pm
7:20 pm
police say she confessed to her crime, amanda knox recants. she tells her parents she broke under stress. in court she would tell jurors how a police officer struck her
7:21 pm
from behind, how she was denied water, food, a translator, and how, she says, under pressure by police she was asked repeatedly to dream up, imagine scenarios for how it could have happened. in a rare interview, proctor of amanda knox juliano menini agrees to sit down for a discussion of the evidence. it was an interview he later appeared to regret. >> nobody hit her at all? >> no, absolutely not. >> was she asked to imagine scenarios? so she's lying? >> absolutely. you either see the person or not. i can't ask a person what he or she imagines. this question would make no sense. >> that's not all that wouldn't make sense. because it turns out virtually everything amanda knox told her
7:22 pm
interrogators the night of her so-called confession was a lie. amanda knox in this statement told police she was in the house the night of the murder and saw her boss, nightclub owner patrick lamumba and meredith kercher go into meredith's room and she heard screams. amanda's statement adds, "i am very confused. i imagined what could have happened". police apparently didn't bother to check the facts about lamumba. they immediately arrested amanda knox, raffaele sollecito and patrick lamumba for the murder of meredith kercher. police announcing case solved. the prosecutor admitted to us even without any evidence, he knew almost the moment he arrived and laid eyes on amanda knox and raffaele sollecito they were involved in the murder. >> prior to the forensic investigation, prior to everything really, your
7:23 pm
intuition or your detective knowledge led you to amanda knox and raffaele sollecito? >> translator: after the first few weeks we were convinced because of the behavior of the two people and especially amanda that they were both involved in the crime. >> but almost immediately after the arrests, menini had a problem. the third suspect, patrick lamumba, had an air tight alibi. he was in his crowded bar that night. he could not have been involved. then the actual forensic tests came back. >> when i looked at it, i was horrified. >> greg hampikian is a forensic biologist at boise state university and director of idaho's innocence project. and is working with the knox defense team. he says italian investigators did a good job processing the crime scene, collected excellent
7:24 pm
evidence, but clung to shakier evidence that proved their theory. a classic error, he says, a prosecutor who trusted his gut feeling instead of the science that at that time was pointing to another suspect. >> they didn't like the way amanda behaved, whatever that means. and so they wanted to investigate her and raffaele and her boss. when the dna's finally processed, it's not any of their suspects's. so what do you do? what would you do? you let them go. >> as patrick lamumba was being released from jail, investigators analyzing the bloody evidence left at the crime scene found an entirely new suspect. his name? rudy gaday, a known petty criminal from the ivory coast who fled to germany shortly after the murder. it turns out gaday's hand print
7:25 pm
made in meredith kercher's own blood was found in the victim's room. gaday's dna found inside the victim's body in her vagina. his dna on her clothing, on her purse. his feces even found on used toilet paper left near an unflushed toilet down the hall. and something else. gaday didn't even know raffaele and had only met amanda a few times with neighbors. >> knowing all of that and when he finally got extradited from germany back down to italy, we thought, you know, thank god this is over. >> it wasn't. prosecutor menini simply swapped suspects. amanda knox, raffaele sollecito and now rudy gaday had come to meredith kercher hoping to include her in an orgy. when kercher refused they pulled out knives and killed her.
7:26 pm
giulian menini would stick to his instincts despite the forensic evidence. >> you were fix ated, according to the defense, on amanda knox and raffaele sollecito and kept imagining new scenarios that made these two people guilty. it trmpblgts i did what i -- >> i did what i did because i was convinced give be the evidence they were absolutely responsible. >> rudy gaday, the african drifter, was quickly convicted and sent to prison, implicating amanda and raffaele after which his sentence was reduced. in 2009, menini would bring his case against amanda knox and her boyfriend to trial. boring potato chip decoy bag.x
7:27 pm
now no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting. host: could switching to or mnsurance?ou fifteen percent dchuckchk wo man: hey you dang woodchks, quit chucking myood! vo: geic fifinutesould save y fifteen percent or more on car insurance. now use the best suncare recommended most by dermatologists. neutrogena®, with technologies like helioplex... it provides the highest average spf and unsurpassed uva protection. neutrogena®. get the best. >> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud--
7:28 pm
big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. introducing the schwab mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you.
7:29 pm
7:30 pm
i'm joe johns in washington. it's over. maria shriver today filed for divorce from arnold schwarzenegger citing irreck sizeable differences. sclooicher seeking joint custody of the two minor children after schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a son with the couple's housekeeper. her filing does not refer to a prenuptial agreement. living leader muammar gadhafi is warning nato of revenge attacks if it doesn't stop air raids against the regime. in an audio message relayed today to thousands of supporters, gadhafi advised to withdraw otherwise promising to retaliate against his enemies in europe with an eye for an eye. and it seems like the taste of freedom has italian flavors.
7:31 pm
former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn left his new york city townhouse tonight just hours after a judge released him from house arrest. he then went to an italian restaurant on manhattan's upper east side. the sexual assault case against him is in jeopardy after prosecutors called the accuser's credibility into question. but they haven't dropped the charges against him. now back to "murder abroad, the amanda knox story". one of italy's most notorious murder trials, the case against amanda knox and her boyfriend was getting under way. basing his case mainly on circumstantial evidence, the
7:32 pm
prosecutor, giuliano mignini would begin to present witnesses. one said they saw the couple near the murder. two others said they heard a scream. another hearing footsteps running the other direction. mignini now presents scientific evidence he said proves amanda and raffaele's guilt. meredith dna on amanda's bra strap and what he called an inconclusive sample of what could have been meredith's dna collected on a knife found at raffaele's apartment. on the handle of the knife, amanda's dna. according to prosecutor mignini, because the victim had never been to raffaele's apartment, the knife must be the murder weapon. but tests for blood on the knife
7:33 pm
turned up negative. prosecutors explained it's because the knife had been wiped clean. forensic expert greg hampikian says finding dna but no blood makes it highly unlikely the knife was used in a bloody murder. he also says it's surprising the prosecutor was even allowed to admit such a small, unexplainable sample as evidence. >> would this have made it into a u.s. court? i don't think this would have made it onto a u.s. lab report. >> what also made is into court was amanda's so-called confession. in a quirk of italian law, the confession was thrown out of the criminal case against knox but jurors heard it, anyway, as part of a civil case being tried simultaneously. in court, jurors heard mignini's evidence of guilt. then when they went home each night they heard the news from a tabloid press gone wild. sensational headlines about the murder suspect dubbed "foxy
7:34 pm
knoxy" were rampant. completely fabricated stories of how amanda knox engaged in sexual orgies, satanic rituals, how she bought bleach to clean up the crime scene. all of it according to the prosecutor himself, lies. with no conclusive evidence, their daughter was guilty. the knox family would enter the courtroom just after midnight on saturday, december 5th, 2009, believing prosecutors had simply not proved the case. the jury had deliberated for 13 hours. in a moment that haunts him to this day, curt knox heard the verdict in italian. "guilty". >> these two kids were innocent. and to have them say "guilty" it was just devastating. it was literally devastating. and i mean, literally the people that were in the courtroom kind of went oh!
7:35 pm
. doug preston is a best-selling author who dreams up chilling murder plots in his writing shack on the cold coast of maine. 11 years ago he had an idea to write a chilling tale, but in a warmer location. >> i moved to itly to write a novel. and we rented a house in the tuscan hills just outside of florence. >> his research began with trying to learn about the italian justice system. teaming up with an old italian crime reporter named mario spezzi, he soon was intrigued about a serial killer italy had yet to catch. the monster of florence who killed eight couples from 1968 to 1985, then vanished. >> when you're a novelist you're just making things up. but this was real. >> preston would quickly abandon
7:36 pm
his work of fiction for the real thing and began to learn how the monster targeted young lovers engaging in sex, mostly in cars in the hills above florence. killing first the man, then dragging the woman out of the car, mutilating and removing her genitals. for 17 years, always using the same gun, the same knife, killing again and again as police failed to solve the case. >> yes, again and again the police arrested innocent people, interrogated them brutally, thought that they had extracted all kind of really important confessions from them. >> preston says with the suspects in custody, the monster would kill again. police chased wild theorys of a satanic cult. preston and spezzi began to write of a lone killer and terrible police work. >> the book, you know, to be honest really criticized their investigation very thoroughly. and it wasn't just criticism. it presented irrefutable evidence that the police were on the wrong track.
7:37 pm
>> before the book could even be released, police focused their attention on the authors. mario spezzi's villa was raided, his notes confiscated and the journalist placed under arrest, though later released without charges. police surmised spezzi's knew so much about the killer he just might be the killer. then preston's phone rang. >> i thought it was a joke, and then they said, no, mr. preston, this is not a joke. we are coming to get you. this is obligatory. you tell us where you are. that will save everyone a lot of trouble. >> preston would find himself at the door of the prosecutor's office here in pooirz perugia where he thought he'd spend a few minutes answering a few questions. >> i had never understood how brutal -- psychologically brutal an interrogation is. you feel absolutely helpless. >> and the chief interrogator was and is? >> giuliano mignini, this
7:38 pm
prosecutor, who isn't -- let me tell you something. he knows exactly what he's doing. >> giuliano mignini was the prosecutor for both the monster and the amanda knox cases. just like during amanda's interrogation, preston also says he was asked to imagine scenarios of how the crime could have occurred. >> i was terrified. i thought, these people have the power to put me in jail for the rest of my life. >> preston says he was questioned for two hours. he left the meeting and wrote everything down, including the time he went in and the time he left. which is why giuliano mignini's recollection of that meeting with preston is so puzzling. lasted about 20 minutes. no more than that. it was the first time i had met preston, no more than 20 minutes.
7:39 pm
>> i interviewed doug prestonton and that is just not true according to him. he said the interrogation lasted two hours. >> i don't remember now how long it was for. i believe i it was 20 minutes. perhaps a half an hour. who knows about an hour. i'd have to look at the statement. however what's certain is that when you make a statement that person must tell the truth. and i challenged some of the things he said. and let me read to you what he said about it. "i began to sweat. the public minister began repeating the same questions over and over again". >> and so i said, wait a minute. i said, are you -- are you -- do you think i've committed a crime? and that's when mignini said "yes. we don't think it, we know it. we know you have committed a crime. we have the proof. and you are going to confess to it". >> it sounds very similar to what amanda knox described.
7:40 pm
>> it is completely different. because i interrogated preston, amanda was interrogated by the police. preston wasn't arrested. amanda was arrested. the two things are completely different. they have absolutely nothing in common apart from the fact that i was the public prosecutor in both cases. >> amanda knox describes to her lawyers the very same techniques. aggressive questioning, asking to speculate, confronted with so-called evidence of criminal activity that police didn't have. fearing he would soon be arrested, in 2006 preston fled italy and has never returned. but the tables were beginning to turn for the prosecutor as giuliano mignini would find himself under investigation.
7:41 pm
7:42 pm
7:43 pm
7:44 pm
for decade now, italian prosecutors have tried and have failed to catch the monster of florence who shot and mutilated eight couples in the tuscan hills. prosecutor giuliano mignini's investigation would also end in failure. his case against journalist mario spezzi was completely
7:45 pm
thrown out, and his theory of a satanic cult and massive coverup in the monster case was being ridiculed by other italian justices. and mignini's tactics, including the wiretapping of offices, became part of a new case. mignini himself was accused, convicted, and sentenced to a 16month suspended sentence for abusing his office. mignini, who is appealing the conviction, explained to us it's nothing. >> i've seen this many times when they say, convicted of abuse of office. it does not mean abuse of power. abuse of office is a minor crime in italy. i mean, it wasn't corruption, just to be clear. >> but for this proud judicial official of perugia, the public humiliation was humbling. it was during this very time
7:46 pm
when giuliano mignini was facing embarrassing charges of abusing his office he arrived at the crime scene of meredith kercher's murder. his investigation into kercher's death would not wait for the forensic evidence to be processed. he already had his suspicions. within days, he announced the horrific crime was solved. >> dr. mignini, is it possible that a prosecutor who is facing his own troubles, perhaps rushed to judgment to solve a sensational crime? >> translator: i did not take any opportunity, because that day i just happened to be on duty. a tour of duty of a week. so i did not take an opportunity. >> the morning after our interview with giuliano mignini, the prosecutor spots our camera, walks towards me, and off camera asks what i thought of the interview the night before.
7:47 pm
if i thought he was being truthful. clearly, mignini is now concerned. his case against amanda knox appears to be falling apart. the tabloid press still enamored with foxy knoxy, is beginning to tell a different story. amanda and rouaffaele have appealed their convictions. the appeal trial is now under way. a new judge and new jury have been seated. knox rarely smiles now, raffaele sollecito has shaved his head. they have both been imprisoned for more than three years. knox's family says the couple, who had met just eight days before the murder, haven't communicated since their arrests. before the judge enters, knox smiles to raffaele. "are you okay?" it is a tender moment in what would be a strange hearing.
7:48 pm
this morning amanda knox's attorneys are to cross-examine an old witness. he is the homeless man who lived in this park and originally told the court he saw amanda and raffaele near the crime scene the night of the murder, before testimony begins cameras are ushered out of the court, and police bring in a star prosecution witness that the jury would find laughable. the homeless heroin addict could no longer remember the exact night he saw the couple. he was confused. it could have been hallowe'en, actually the night before the murder. and then the star witness dropped a bombshell. admitting he was under investigation by mignini's office for heroin dealing at the exact moment he became one of mignini's star witnesses. in our interview the night before, giuliano mignini told us he has no doubts the trap the tramp, as he calls him, was telling the truth. it if he says he saw him and
7:49 pm
states it under oath we have to believe him if if we hadn't been given reason not. to it's not as if the crime had been filmed. i wish it had been. was he trading his testimony in hopes of getting a favor in court? >> no. he didn't get any favor at all. the witness presented himself and gave a statement. that's all. we took his statement because the evidence was relevant. >> so you believe the testimony of a homeless heroin dealer. >> translator: i don't want to comment on the judicial proceedings regarding this individual. because he was tried for another matter, something completely different that had nothing to do with this trial. and so for this trial he is a witness. >> with mignini's main witness now being challenged, it leaves only the scant dna evidence. and that, too, is about to be challenged. [ marge ] psst.
7:50 pm
constipated?
7:51 pm
phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. [ professor ] good morning students. today, we're gonna... ♪ i like your messy hair ♪ i like the clothes you wear ♪ i like the way you sing ♪ and when you dance with me ♪ you always make me smile [ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn express hotels, you always can. holiday inn express. stay you. and now stay rewarded with vacation pay. stay two weekend nights and get a $75 prepaid card.
7:52 pm
7:53 pm
witness again being challenged on appeal, the case against amanda knox and raffaele sollecito seems to be hanging on
7:54 pm
two very small pieces of dna evidence. cnn has learned a court-ordered retesting of the forensic evidence will find no evidence of human blood anywhere on the knife found in raffaele's apartment. a forensic expert telling cnn the lack of blood makes it highly unlikely it could have been used in meredith kercher's bloody murder. in addition, the tiny spot of what the prosecutors said was meredith kercher's dna on that knife according to experts is so small, it's not only inconclusive, there's nothing left to retest. as for raffaele sollecito's dna found on one spot on meredith kercher's metal bra class up? prosecutor giuliano mignini told us that no additional dna could be retested because the class up was ruined in police storage.
7:55 pm
>> translator: the material from the hook had i believe deteriorated due to the presence of rust. and rust cannot be avoided because if you use some anti-rust product you destroy any genetic material that is left. i don't want to go into this, but the material that was taken 3 1/2 years ago was definitive. >> dna expert greg hampikian says even if the dna was preserved it doesn't explain how a single sample of raffaele's dna was all that was found in a bloody and violent crime scene. >> if that's all there is, and from what i've seen that's all there is, then it's a very weak piece of evidence. and it's inconsistent with every other piece of evidence in the case. >> twice a week, amanda's stepfather, chris mellas, makes the drive to the prison where his 23-year-old stepdaughter is being held. he works in computer software and was able to move to italy so
7:56 pm
amanda would always have at least one member of the family here. >> it's about a half hour outside of perugia. >> he is hoping this summer he and amanda will move back home to seattle. but despite the evidence or lack of evidence being presented in the appeal, neither one appears to be hopeful. >> and how is she holding up? i heard you saying she doesn't want to be too hopeful. >> no, she doesn't want to be too hopeful because it's difficult. things have gone our way in the past and we have been completely kicked in the teeth. so you don't want to -- you don't want to get hopeful. >> amanda knox is not allowed to talk to the press. her stepfather says she has no idea just how big this case has become. giuliano mignini knows all too well. the prosecutor who repeatedly told us he has nothing to be nervous about is again on the defensive. already found guilty of abuse of his office in the monster of
7:57 pm
florence case, he is now being accused of harassing journalists who criticize his investigation against amanda knox. in april, the international committee to protect journalists sent a scathing letter to the president of italy complaining about mignini's tactics, in part saying "it is unacceptable that journalists, bloggers and writers on both sides of the atlantic should censor themselves by staying away from subjects of public interest, such as the meredith kercher murder case and the monster of florence killings because of prosecutor mignini's inability to tolerate the scrutiny that comes with public office". >> do you have any doubt, any doubt in your mind, that you convicted the wrong people, that amanda knox and raffaele sollecito may indeed be innocent? >> translator: listen. i am very sincere. so if i made certain requests it
7:58 pm
was because i was absolutely sure that they were responsible. otherwise, if i had had any doubt, i would have asked for an acquittal for lack of evidence. >> mignini is clearly under the gun and needs to make sure his convictions of amanda knox and raffaele sollecito are upheld on appeal. exactly why knox's family is cautious. >> i'm just -- sometimes i'm just filled with hope and i know for sure that this is going away. but i was like that during the first trial. because there was no evidence. >> for the knox family, their entire lives have been put on hold. curt knox and his ex-wife etta have mortgaged everything they own to pay for their daughter's defense. curt has two young daughters of his own, amanda's stepsisters, who have grown up watching their father travel back and forth to italy. he hopes very soon the trips will end and his entire family will be back together.
7:59 pm
>> you know, family events and stuff like that, there's always a chair open. >> really? >> yeah. the three girls had their picture taken. the three girls had their picture taken, holding a picture of amanda. >> just this past webber, wenz did inmates jailed along with rudy gaday testified he told them neither amanda knox nor her boyfriend were at the house

242 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on